A 22-year-old Norwich man arraigned Monday in an April 21 shooting was at the center of an unsolved beating case in 2007 that led to accusations of racism against Plainfield residents and police.

Nashawn Williams, who is black, was a 16-year-old Plainfield High School student when he said in October 2007 that a group of white men attacked him while he was waiting at a bus stop in Moosup. Plainfield police and the FBI conducted an 11-month investigation, but failed to make an arrest.

The case spurred a public outcry across the state. Groups, including the NAACP, called it a race crime and protested when no arrest was made.

Norwich police arrested Williams on Friday. He was arraigned Monday in Norwich Superior Court on charges of first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree criminal mischief, unlawful discharge of a firearm and criminal possession of a revolver. Williams also is accused of violating probation for convictions for selling drugs and assault.

Williams pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment and was assigned a public defender. Norwich Superior Judge Kevin McMahon set Williams’ bail at $150,000. He is scheduled to return to court on May 14.

According to Norwich police, Williams fired several shots shortly before 1 a.m. April 21 outside a Hamilton Avenue apartment. No one was hit, but a bullet hit the hood of an SUV parked nearby, police said in an affidavit for an arrest warrant.

One witness said Williams opened fire after leaving a party in an apartment in the building, police said.

A second witness told police that Williams got into a dispute with another man outside the building and then fired several shots, police said.

A third witness said he lived in the building but wasn’t present when the incident happened, police said. The witness said he had had a recent argument with Williams’ girlfriend about money he claimed she owed him, police said, and feared the shooting was a result of that argument.

The witness also told police he saw Williams on Broad Street on April 30, and that Williams reached into his waistband and ducked behind cars parked on the street, causing him to think Williams was planning to shoot him, police said.

Since he is a convicted felon, Williams is not allowed to own a handgun.

Williams was one of 20 people arrested by Norwich police on Oct. 7, 2010 in a citywide drug-selling sweep. After agreeing to a plea bargain, he was sentenced on Feb. 14, 2012, to 18 months in prison for sale of narcotics, a felony. That same day, he also was sentenced for a misdemeanor assault police said took place in Norwich on Feb. 2, 2011. The two sentences ran at the same time.